AFS Corporate Member Progressive Foundry located in Perry, Iowa, a producer of gray and ductile iron castings, completed a multi-million-dollar, multi-phase foundry expansion. It included a new core room building, new employee center, new metallurgical lab, new office building, and an update to its shakeout system. The shakeout system upgrade was prompted by the continued growth of the foundry and the downstream equipment needed to meet the capabilities of the new molding lines that have been upgraded throughout the years. The layout, age of the equipment, as well as safety and dust emissions were all factors that led to this shakeout expansion.

After researching several different types of equipment and solutions for the shakeout portion of the expansion, Progressive decided on a DIDION Rotary Media Drum to handle their sand separation and casting cleaning needs. 

DIDION offered the most efficient approach by combining shakeout, sand blending, double sand screening, casting cleaning and cooling with the MD-200 Rotary Media Drum. The media clean the casting and provide a media cushion for the castings––which has helped reduce scrap rates. Sand carryover has also been dramatically reduced over the old shakeout system, too. 

DIDION personnel provided in-depth equipment knowledge and recommendations to help the foundry select the right size drum and options to fit the space. Installation was straightforward: The machine was shipped complete and required minimal adjustments after start-up. 

Immediate improvements post installation include: 

• Multiple processes in one efficient machine. 
• Reduced sand carryover resulting in cleaner finishing area .
• The foundry is positioned for long-term growth with a shakeout system designed to handle full-foundry capabilities.

General Kinematics: Gentle Shakeout, Increased Production

An iron casting foundry found its existing casting cooling and shakeout system inefficient with a high sand carryover and poor general performance. The equipment was also rough on the castings, which caused damage. Their mission: Identify new sand and casting equipment that could guarantee improvements to its process goals, durability, and availability.

With a pre-existing business relationship with General Kinematics, they contacted a GK representative to discuss their needs. The foundry wanted to improve worker safety by eliminating dust, containing heat released from materials, and enhancing casting quality while saving energy and reducing scrap.

Because the customer was familiar with GK’s equipment, they quickly decided that the VIBRA-DRUM sand casting equipment was what they needed to get the job done. The team had previously operated a VIBRA-DRUM at another foundry, so they knew what to expect: 

• Improved sand return. The VIBRA-DRUM enhances sand attrition and cooling.
• Sustainability. GK’s Two-Mass drive system uses up to two-thirds less energy than direct drive machines.
• A significant reduction in scrap and reworks post shakeout.

After designing and building the new shakeout system, GK’s field service team assisted with its installation and start-up, ensuring smooth operation. The customer has reported improved working conditions compared to their previous equipment. Silica dust was dramatically reduced, and heat from the sand and castings was contained within the VIBRA-DRUM while cooling castings to acceptable temperatures for future handling. 

Specifically, the customer noted the shakeout is gentle for their most delicate and complicated castings, avoiding damage. In addition, the fully enclosed system helps keep the foundries clean. VIBRA-DRUM will save the customer energy because of the reduced scrap and improved casting cleaning due to the gentle tumbling action. Sand carryover will also be drastically reduced from the previous process, improving their sand return system. 

Magaldi: Downtime Improved By 60%

A significant capital project at AFS Corporate Member Waupaca Foundry Plant 4, a ductile iron foundry located in Marinette, Wisconsin, was installed on budget and on time in 16 days over their holiday shutdown. The project featured two new heavy-duty Magaldi Superbelt conveyor systems designed to improve downtime by as much as 60% and provide an anticipated two-year return on investment due to reduced maintenance and energy costs along with significantly reducing the silica dust and noise pollution for the Waupaca team. 

Magaldi’s patented heavy-duty Magaldi Superbelt steel mesh and pan conveyor system was selected after careful planning and research. It gently conveys materials at varying speeds instead of using brute force to move materials. The conveyors have since improved gate and sprue transportation uptime and reduced energy and maintenance costs. Equally important, the new conveyors improved the foundry workplace because they run much more quietly and improve indoor air quality. 

Sprues, runners, and gates can be fairly sharp and tend to become caught in the belt.

With the Superbelt conveyor, this issue is solved thanks to the tight pan structure featuring a perfect fit in the overlap area for an effective seal. This feature prevents materials from snagging or getting stuck, thus avoiding conveyor jam-ups or damage.

With the Superbelt conveyor, crusher feeding can be performed continuously or in batches. The belt speed can be adjusted by taking into account any change in the size of the sprue over time as well as crusher operating cycles. In addition, because the conveyor doesn’t have critical wear points, it requires little to no maintenance. The only points requiring lubrication are the head and tail pulley bearings, which can be greased with the belt running. The other components are designed for continuous operation and can be checked during preventive maintenance over a multi-year schedule. 

Sinto America: Electric Molding Lines

As the foundry industry strives to improve quality, reliability and maintainability along with reducing its carbon footprint, many companies are starting to explore replacing fluid power-driven (hydraulic, pneumatic, or a combination of both) systems with electrical actuation (servo-cylinder, electric rack-and-pinion drives.) 

Sinto has been manufacturing electric servo cylinders and actuators since 2010 with 12,000 in use worldwide––5,000 of those in foundry applications. Sinto America is excited to introduce this technology into the North American market.

Unlike hydraulic cylinders, electric cylinders and linear actuators can operate without hydraulic units or piping, eliminating the risk of oil leaks while conserving energy. Electric cylinders and linear actuators offer more precious load control and stability, resulting in better quality and fewer defects. 

Integrating Sinto Smart Foundry line side monitors with the electric molding line allows immediate data to be shown to the machine operator. With this integration, staff will be able to measure molding line performance, molding line uptime, molding line power consumption, and other system parameters. 

The many benefits of going electric include: 

• Less temperature sensitivity. With hydraulic, operation can be unstable in cold weather, leading to molding defects. With electric, the molding line cycles remain consistent regardless of ambient temperature. 
• Overall molding line with smaller footprint. With hydraulic, valuable floor space is needed to locate the hydraulic power unit and its associated piping. With electric, a hydraulic power unit or complicated piping and wiring are not needed.
• Cut annual maintenance costs by 67%. With hydraulic, the HPU pump maintenance and fluid change is not required. With electric, the electric cylinders and actuators do not require hydraulic pumps and fluids. 
• Reduce power consumption and C02 emissions by 70%. With hydraulic, the HPU pump motors are constantly running and using electricity. Electric cylinders only run when the mold line is in motion, saving electricity. 
• Reduce noise (dB) by 20%. With hydraulic, the pump noise is constant. With electric cylinders and actuators, there is less noise. 

Viking Technologies: Density of Returns Increased Up to 5X

The centerpiece of every foundry is the melt department. Regardless of molding method, there is metal to be melted, and the efficiency of the melt shop plays a big role in the foundry’s success. In almost all casting processes, gates and sprue are separated from the cast parts and returned to the melt furnaces––but for the most part, these returns become tangled messes (a barrel of monkeys comes to mind) with low density. 

In order to make the furnace charging more efficient, it is desirable to break the returns down to smaller pieces––however, some foundries pile up the returns, attempting to break them by dropping heavy weights onto the pile. 
Viking introduces the Yuatsuki “Crocodile,” a gate and sprue crusher specially designed to break down the returns in a safe and controlled manner, increasing the density of the returns by up to five times. With only one-fifth of the forklift traffic to move the returns to the scrap yard, wear and tear is reduced on both man and machine. 

Typically, the charge yard magnet can lift five times more material, making the transfer of crushed material to the charge bucket (or charge car) faster, reducing the preparation time for the next charge. A denser charge allows the furnace to be loaded faster, which has a direct effect on the amount of energy that is lost while the furnace lid is open. With the denser return, foundries see one to two extra melt cycles per shift. Energy savings of 900,000 kWh per year has been reported, which has qualified foundries for energy rebates from the power company. 

The Crocodile features a robust design, with jaws consisting of “tooth plates” that are high manganese castings that show little wear even after a decade of service.